The Seattle School District is inviting students, staff, families, and community members to review and comment on Grades 9 through 11 core and advanced math materials being considered for use in classrooms next school year.

The set of materials will be available for review through Feb. 27 at the John Stanford Center library. In-class student focus groups will also be held at several high schools.

The district aims to have an “aligned curriculum,” which means that students in any one grade are held to the same expectations so learning builds as students advance from one grade level to the next, according to the district.

In 2006, Seattle Public Schools adopted the CMPII math curriculum for all middle schools and Everyday Math, augmented with Singapore Practice, in 2007 for elementary schools.

The adoption committees have been meeting since December 2008 to screen math materials. Committees are composed primarily of high school math teachers, representatives from English Language Learning, Special Education and Advanced Learning, a high school administrator, a college math professor and three family/community representatives.


On Feb. 5, the High School Mathematics Materials Core Adoption Committee identified its top choices for Grades 9 through11 core math materials. The finalists and textbook titles are:

• College Preparatory Mathematics (CPM): “Algebra Connections,” “Geometry Connections,” and “Algebra 2”
• Key Curriculum Press: “Discovering Algebra,” “Discovering Geometry,” and “Discovering Advanced Algebra”
• Prentice Hall: “Algebra 1,” “Geometry,” and “Algebra 2”

On Feb. 10, the Advanced Mathematics Committee identified its top choices for Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus, and AP Statistics materials. The finalists and textbook titles are:

Pre-Calculus

• College Preparatory Mathematics (CPM): PreCalculus with Trigonometry, Volumes 1 and 2 (Sallee)
• Glencoe McGraw Hill: Advanced Mathematical Concepts:  PreCalculus with Applications (Holliday)
• Key Curriculum Press: PreCalculus with Trigonometry (Foerster)
• Pearson/Addison-Wesley: PreCalculus (Demana)

AP Calculus

• Houghton Mifflin: Calculus, 8th edition (Larson)
• Key Curriculum Press: Calculus (Foerster)
• Pearson Prentice Hall: Calculus: Graphical, Numerical, Algebraic (Finney)

AP Statistics

• Key Curriculum Press: Statistics in Action (Watkins)
• Pearson/Addison-Wesley: Statistics:  Modeling the World (Bock)

The core and advanced math materials will be available for public review and comment at the second-floor Library of the John Stanford Center, 2445 Third Ave. S. The materials and feedback forms will be available through Feb. 27, between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. 

Student focus groups will also convene, held during mathematics classes at Ballard, Chief Sealth Nathan Hale, Garfield and Rainier Beach high schools.

Committees will conduct site visits to schools using the identified materials. They will meet again in early March to share results of site visits, student focus groups, and public review, and will identify their final materials recommendations on March 12 (Core Committee) and March 17 (Advanced Math Committee).